


A New Life

by WeepingAngel13



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-20 01:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2409893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeepingAngel13/pseuds/WeepingAngel13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor has just regenerated into the13th Doctor! But he is not the only one starting a new life. He meets Nicole, a typical 24 year-old girl~in for a big surprise. Follow their adventures with aliens and monsters, new and old!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just A Normal Day...Not!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole starts the day with a twist, as she first sees the TARDIS!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! This is my first story so don't expect anything too great...but keep reading!! Trust me, it gets less boring later in the story. This first chapter is just an introduction. Comments are welcome, just keep them friendly! I mean, like, Doctor Who is just awesome. Am I right? Enjoy! :)

Prologue  
Nicole was driving by the railroad tracks while heading home. As she stopped at a light, she noticed a blue box the size of a telephone box on the other side of the tracks. Someone, an old, thin man with gray hair and a black suit, was walking towards it with long quick strides. He took out a key, looked around nervously, opened the door and stepped in. Nicole wondered what could possibly be in the tiny space worthy enough for him to go into the box. A train sped by, preventing her from seeing any more. But when it passed, she looked again curiously for the blue box. It wasn’t there. She scanned the surrounding area. There was no man, nothing taking it away. It couldn’t have moved that quickly. She had to drive on. ‘I suppose it just disappeared.’ she smirked to herself. Little did she know that was exactly what had happened...

Nicole Pulp was annoyed. She was always annoyed. The 24 year-old girl that lives in Bruton, England had felt that way ever since her parents had divorced several years ago. It made her grumpy and upset at her dad for leaving her and her mother ‘to deal with’ Connor and Isabella, her 19 year-old brother and 9 year-old sister. She ignored them best she could, and spent most of her time shut in her room, reading a book.

Once, when she was reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the seventh time, Isabella came up to her. “Nicky,” she begged, “play with me!” and Nicole responded angrily, “Go away, I’m busy.” Isabella ran off crying to their mom, and she gave Nicole “The Lecture” about siblings and to care for them. Nicole noticed that she was sounding weary, and a tone in her voice said, ‘I’ve had a hard enough time, please work with me.’ But she simply flipped her smooth chestnut brown hair and walked away. Connor on the other hand wasn’t asking her to play with him, but was just plain irritating, as most brothers are.

This was her normal life. She was used to it, and was not prepared whatsoever for the events that were to follow.

‘Today I'll go to “Extravaganza”.’ she thought smugly one day in July. “Extravaganza” was a store famous for having just about anything and everything you could think of. ‘I might get something my friends will be jealous of!’ 

She drove herself to the store and walked through the aisles. She didn’t see much that she was interested in until she saw some stone statues of angels. Their head buried into their hands, it appeared as though they were crying. ‘Weeping angels. Huh? How did I think of that?’ It was as if the thought was inserted into her head. ‘Buy them. I should buy them. They would look beautiful in the yard. ’ Nicole shook her head. How was she thinking that? Why was she even interested? It’s not something she would usually think before learning the price.

Just as she was about to search for a price tag, wind and a loud noise filled the store. She quickly turned around and saw a faint outline of a box. A blue box with a pulsing light at the top. With each pulse, the image grew clearer, until it was definitely there. ‘This box, I've seen it before!’ Nicole remembered the day she saw it, nearly a year ago! A sign at the top read “Police Public Call Box”. ‘Well, a police box does not usually appear out of nothing. And in 2014?’ wondered Nicole. ‘Well, this is new...’


	2. What In This Insane World...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole meets the recently regenerated Doctor and some strange statues that seem to be...well, strange!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please please comment! It's nice to know people are reading and constructive criticism is always welcome! I'm only human and have been a Whovian for about a year, so don't be afraid to point out any mistakes I made. Thank you!

A young man staggered out of the box, and leaned against it. The inside seemed to be smoking. With a jolt, Nicole realized that even though this was a completely different man, he had the same black suit--in the same blue box! She tried to stay calm, observing everything that happened. The noise had attracted a considerably sized petrified crowd.

Without seeing the shocked group he said out loud to himself, “Okay, let’s see now...” He examined his hands and bare feet-were they glowing? ‘No, it must have been a trick of the light.’ thought Nicole. He  grabbed some of his reddish-brown hair and exclaimed, “Drat! Still not completely  ginger! But everything else seems to be in the right spot, I was afraid my nose might end up on my left foot like in that one dream I had, horrible night that was, I had to hop on one foot in order to breathe and smell things, people looked at me in the strangest way, though my left foot would’ve been better than on my right foot, I use my right...foot...more...” He then noticed everyone staring open-mouthed around him. “Oh...hello!” he said awkwardly. “Um, I’d better go, uh, change. Yeah, I’ll be in my, um, box. Yes, my box.” As he scanned the store and the crowd, his eyes settled on the only person in the crowd who was not faint from shock. Nicole. And she noticed. She even noticed the small grin and wink he gave her before stepping back into the blue box. But seconds after he stepped in he hopped right back out again.

“Oh no.” he muttered. “Oh, no-no-no-no- no !” Not here. How can they be here?” He seemed shocked as he ran to the statues of angels that Nicole was examining before. Then she saw. The angels had changed. They were no longer crying into their hands. Instead, they had their heads raised slightly upward, staring with their blank eyes at the group. ‘No, not at the group.’ she realized. Her. They were looking at her.

The strange man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something, was it a piece of metal? A pen? Possibly-a screwdriver? He pressed a button and the tip facing the statues glowed a deep purple. Of all colors, this full-grown man was playing with a toy that glowed  purple ? Nevertheless, that’s entirely off topic. He looked at the device as if it told him that the world was going to die a slow painful death caused by thousands of Death Eaters accompanied by the Dark Lord himself--whoops...maybe she shouldn’t have read the Harry Potter series so many times.

He examined the angels, then noticed they were looking at something. Using his device again, he pointed it at their eyes, then slowly turned, turned, until it was pointing directly at Nicole. He walked up to her and scanned her with the glowing thingy. She looked into his eyes, those deep brown eyes full of intelligence and wisdom from many years of experience...many more years than he seemed from the outside. And he stared back. Then he turned and barked loudly at the crowd, 

“Who is the manager of this store?” A tall, slightly pudgy, burly man with blond hair and a name tag that read “William Phillips.”, raised his hand boldly as he made his way through the group to the man.

“I am the manager.” He thundered. “I also have the authority to ask you who you are, how you got here, why you are here, and I can tell you to LEAVE!” The mysterious man strided up to him until their faces were mere inches apart and even though the manager was nearly a foot taller than he was, in a calm, quiet voice that was intimidating in its own way said,

“I’ll have you know that I have more authority than you will ever have. Just take a look at my ID!” He dramatically pulled out from his pocket a wallet with a card that said,

\----------------------------------------------

‘Bobby Savlen

9 years old

currently in the 4th grade’

\----------------------------------------------

But before Nicole could read any farther, he glanced at it and quickly slipped it back muttering,

“I really have to work on that.” He shouted to the group,

“Call me the Doctor-not Bobby Savlen! Just confirming that.” He recovered from his clumsiness and asked the manager with a finger pointed at the angels,

“Now, where did you get those statues?” Phillips took one surprised look and quickly exclaimed, “They’re decorations, statues for gardens! Why?” Nicole had a feeling that he had responded a little too quickly...She also had a feeling that the statues weren’t supposed to have fangs and claws. Maybe they also weren’t supposed to be reaching out and be five feet closer to her than they were a few seconds ago. Wait, WHAT?!? She gaped at the frightening stone figures and quietly croaked,

“Um, Doctor?”

“Not now, can’t you see I’m busy interrogating this guy here?” he replied with a wave of his hand. Nicole tried again without taking her eyes off the angels.

“Doctor, I think you might want to help me out here? Please?”

“I’ll talk to you about your fingernail polish or whatever you want later, okay?”

Fingernail polish? She lost all patience.

“DOCTOR! THE STATUES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO STAY COMPLETELY STILL HAVE  MOVED!! ” Finally, he whirled around and exclaimed,

“Oh! Well you should have called me earlier!”  Nicole gave him an exasperated look. A split second later she heard a thought in her mind.  Kill . People she had forgotten were there screamed as she whipped her attention back to the angels, one of their fingers an inch from her nose. Eyes crossed looking at the finger she whispered, 

“What do I do?”

The Doctor then said to the bystanders without looking away from the statues,

“Go. Go back home and forget what happened today. Just GO!” People rushed out of the room, pushing to get out first. Amidst the shouts of terror, the Doctor said to Nicole,

“We’re lucky they’re not as fast as they should be, must have been hibernating-”

“Not as fast as they should be?” She said, her voice suddenly growing louder.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘THEY’RE NOT AS FAST AS THEY SHOULD BE?”

The Doctor then said in what apparently supposed to be a calm voice,

“Now, on my signal, we’re going to turn and run to The Tar--to my blue box. We should be able to get there before they get to us, because people are watching them. Ready? One, five, two thousand five hundred and seventy three.” He grabbed her hand and said,

“Run.”


	3. Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Nicole get away from the Angels, and he tries to explain everything she needs to know-for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! So I've been reading some really awesome stories on this site and am trying to step my writing up a bit to perhaps come close to other skilled writers. But I really need some good feedback to do it, so you want a better story? Give some suggestions and corrections! If you read, I'll write! Please comment and maybe even follow the story!

They collided with the blue box and The Doctor fumbled with a key he pulled out of his pocket. But he needn’t bothered, the box swung open wide.

“Ah, that’s my girl!”, he said, quickly patting the outside of the box. They sprinted inside, and slammed the door behind them. Nicole stopped, not wanting to bump into the wall that was no doubt nearby. But there was no wall. Nowhere close to her, anyways. The apparently small box was actually big. It was huge. It was...

“Bigger on the inside.”, she breathed, all anger forgotten.

“What was that?" the Doctor said with a knowing smile.

“It’s...It’s...disproportional.” she decided.

“Is it?” He said, looking around with a fake look of wonder on his face. Suddenly there was a lurch, as the angels attempted to get into the box.

“Whoops! Forgot about them!”

She watched as The Doctor ran directly to the center of a huge room, where a machine that stretched from the floor to the ceiling stood. It looked like a console. At the top there were many inscriptions, they looked like planets, that Nicole had not seen before. The main console had many knobs and buttons, levers and screens, spinny ball thingys and twirly fan whatchamacallits. He poked and pulled and pushed and prodded different levers and buttons. He flipped a switch and checked a screen. The box lurched again, but it was different. Not so forceful. She heard a noise like when the box had appeared in the shop.

The Doctor ran down the ramp they came through, left the box, and hesitantly, Nicole followed.

“Doctor, aren’t they still out there?” asked Nicole.

The Doctor said cheerfully. “Not where we are!”

Nicole was confused.

“What do you mean 'Not where we are?'" She stepped cautiously out of the box, blinked in the sunlight, and stopped dead. The sunlight? They were now standing on the dewy grass in what looked like a small park.

“How… how… are we here?! We were at Extravaganza… and we went into that box… and now we’re here!" She said, confused. There were some kids playing, and others who turned and stared at the pair.

“It's okay! This is supposed to happen. By the way, my “Police Public Call Box” is called the TARDIS. Which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. The box thing was a perfect disguise in 1963, but the chameleon circuit that disguises it to match whatever is common in that place and time period broke, so now it’s stuck like this forever-or at least until I can fix it. So don’t call her “box”, she’s a bit sensitive to that. There’s a name I call her, but you don’t need to know that. That’s the reason we’re here, we traveled. She can take us almost anywhere in time and space.” explained the Doctor proudly.

“Wait, wha-”

“And those statues are called Weeping Angels." he interrupted. "When something, anything is looking, watching, or observing them, they are unable to move. They literally turn into stone. But, when you look away, when you turn your back, when you blink, that is when they move. That is when they touch you. That is when you die. That’s how fast they are. All you have to do is blink.”

“But-”

“Well, not die exactly, but get sent to the past. I just said that to be dramatic. It is their way of getting energy- they feed on all the things that would have been, if the person had not been zapped to the past. But, if they want to kill you, they can.”

“Great, simply marvelous." stated Nicole sarcastically, making the Doctor look down. “First, I get teleported in your TURDAS thingy, then I learn that I’m either going to keep my eyes open for the rest of my life, have no life, might get either sent to the past, what next?”

“Oh, if you're what you seem to be, I'd expect a lot more." He looked at her, interested and curious. "First thing’s first! Angels, you, danger! Let’s go!” He walked away towards the road, and shouted back,

“We’re going to see some friends of mine, they’ll be able to help us.”

“Who says there was any “we” in this?” Nicole asked. The Doctor stopped in his tracks, and turned to face her.

“I did.” He replied.

“And you have control of what I do? You have some army that will force me to? You haven’t told me who you are, and what exactly is going on right now. So, until then-,” She sat down in the damp grass.

“I’m staying right here.” The Doctor stared at her with thoughtful eyes.

"I can force you."

"I can fight." Nicole smoothly responded. She _was_ a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. The Doctor sat down across from her with a slightly amused smile on his face.

"Okay...where to start."

"How about why I'm here with you." The Doctor lost all silliness.

"Well, those statues, they've changed since the last time I saw them. Now, according to my sonic screwdriver," He pulled out the device he had used before on the angels. "They can enter people's minds. In close proximity, they can make their thoughts someone else's. They make people buy them, put them in or by their house. Then, just when the people are sure that they're safe, they attack, they touch them. They feed on all those memories, all those things that would have been. That's why the ones at the store were slower, they hadn't had any energy to consume for a while, no one had bought them yet. I'm not sure why they would have to do all that, they have enough speed and intelligence to touch hundreds of people and come back without anyone noticing."

"Okay," Nicole absently replied. “But why did those...Those things, why did they look at me?” she continued. “Instead of anyone else in the room, they went for me.”

“Well,” the Doctor revealed, “The angels had already entered your thoughts, but didn’t get to finish the job. You were suspicious and...different. You could eventually come to the conclusion of what they were actually doing. Unlike the other people, they couldn’t let you get away with that. You had to be eliminated.”

“Yeah, I remember. They thought-I thought that I really wanted to buy them, but I was confused because I wouldn’t think that. And later, I heard their thought. It was one word. Kill.” Nicole shuddered as she remembered. “So that means...the weeping angels are in my mind?”

“I’m sorry,” The Doctor solemnly acknowledged, “but yes, the angels are in your mind.”

“Great.” Nicole stated suddenly. “Now I have aliens in my head as well as traveling with a madman.” She glanced at the TARDIS and as an afterthought she added, “With a box!”

The Doctor looked at her with surprise.

“I am a madman with a box. That’s not the first time I’ve been called that.”

“But something else...what about that manager-William Phillips-did the angels mess with his head too?”

The Doctor, surprised that Nicole had remembered his name and noticed his mistake answered, “Yes, they did. When they first went to the store, I think they convinced him that he had them as garden decorations, just another part of their store, so he sold them without question. They intensified their-his thoughts when they were in danger of being found out. And-”

“He answered too quickly.” Nicole interrupted.

“Yes.” the Doctor said, taken by surprise again at her keen observance. He continued, "So are you coming or not?"

"Not yet."

"Oh, come on, what else do you need to know?"

"Who you are." The Doctor froze. He remembered something Madame Vastra had told him, a long time ago.

"It's those 2 words." She had said. "It always begin with the same 2 words."

"Doctor?" Nicole inquired,

"Doctor Who?”


	4. It's Only the Beginning...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Nicole meet Jenny (Madame Vastra's wife) and they find out something...interesting about Nicole's relationship with the Angels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...do you like it? You don't like it? Comment anyways, tell me what I can do better!!

The Doctor stared at Nicole, and she could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

“Well then!” he exclaimed and jumped up suddenly. “Enough chit-chat, how about those friends of mine, eh?”

Nicole shrieked and looked at something behind the Doctor. He twisted around only to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Oh, brilliant! How did you know we were here?”

“We have technology of our own you know, your sonic screwdriver isn’t the only device in the world.” Jenny said in a matter-of-factly tone, smiling.

“Alright then! You don’t have to be so rude about it!” the Doctor playfully pouted. He glanced sideways at the amused grin of Jenny. He gave in.

“Oh c’mere you!” The two hugged, as old friends, meeting again.

“Where’s Madame Vastra then?” The Doctor asked.

“She’s at our house, she wanted you to come to her, Doctor. I see you’ve regenerated again!”

“Well, obviously!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Doctor?” Nicole interjected. “Who in this insane world is she? I just saw her appear out of thin air!”  
“Oh, right! Nicole, this is Jenny. Jenny, Nicole. Brilliant, now you’re friends, and you better be, you have no idea what might happen next.”

Jenny smiled wide at her and said, “He always says something like that. Just ignore it.”

Nicole attempted a feeble smile back.

She continued, “I teleported here, we saw that you had arrived by TARDIS, and Madame Vastra asked me to meet you and bring you to our home.” Jenny had a quiet, high, yet confident voice.

Nicole tried to process what just happened. “Okay… So, what, you’re going to teleport us back to your house?”

Jenny grinned even wider. “No, I’m teleporting back. This one only takes one person at a time.” She showed Nicole her necklace which had a large green jewel attached to a thin silver chain. Then she flipped the jewel over to reveal a blinking screen and a few buttons.

“You’re walking. I suspect you’re only getting started with this whole time and space travel thing! You’ll crave for more soon enough.” Jenny winked knowingly. “See you there!”

She pressed something on her necklace and disappeared. Nicole looked at the Doctor.

“Interesting friends you have.”

“I’m an interesting Time Lord.”

“You’re a what now?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I’m a Time Lord. From the planet Gallifrey.”

“Ah, so is she a...Time God too?”

“Time Lord, and no. She’s a human. You’ll get it as we go along.” He hesitated. “You seem strangely calm...how are you taking in all of this information without reacting at all?”

Nicole shrugged, surprised. “I dunno, it’s sort of like I half knew that already, but I didn’t...”

“That must be the Angel inside of you. They must know about me already.” Suddenly, the Doctor jumped back, startled.

“What, what is it?”

“Nicole, what color are your eyes?”

“Brown...why?”

“Well, currently they’re...not brown.”

“What?!?”

“Well, take a look.” The Doctor pulled out a small mirror out of his pocket and handed it to Nicole. She looked at her eyes and screamed. They were crimson red.

She dropped the mirror, breaking it.

“Aw, that was my favorite mirror.”

“DOCTOR! My eyes are blood red. Care to explain why?” He picked up the mirror and fingered the lines of the cracks. 

“Well, I can’t be sure, but my theory is if the angels are in your head, and there is a part of your brain that connects to the eyes and therefore the pupils, then the angel could unintentionally expand into that part, and even though it goes against the basic laws of-”

“Doctor!” Nicole was lost. “Could you shorten your speech and...make it english, please?”

“Fine. If I’m correct, the angel’s moods affect your eye color. I’m not sure why, but it’s my best explanation.” He studied himself in the cracked mirror. “Does my hair really look like that?”

“Yes.” Nicole confirmed, confusedly. “So, what color corresponds to which mood? Red isn’t normally a happy color, is it?”

"Well, let's see, I'm guessing red would be angry or upset, maybe because we found out their plan. What's a happy color?"

"Umm...purple?" she offered.

"Purple? Naw, that's a rubbish color. Reminds me of Halbateranious. Friendly folks, but a horrible stench. Apparently they're not intelligent enough to come up with indoor plumbing yet...Well how about blue? TARDIS blue?"

"Well, blue is sort of known to more of a sad color."

"Okay, oh! How about purple?" the Doctor said excitedly. Nicole rolled her eyes.

She thought he acted kind of like a child.

“Anyways, let’s get moving. Madame Vastra is waiting!" Nicole rolled her eyes playfully. She was pretty sure he would never stop talking or moving. Did he even sleep? She followed the Doctor as she pondered about how this stranger could become so...un-stranger like so quickly.


	5. Madame Vastra's Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted for, like, a year...We're starting to finally get some action! Again, please comment!

They eventually arrived at a large mansion, with a short figure standing on the porch in a butler’s outfit, shaped rather like a talking potato with arms and legs.

"Hello Doctor. We've been waiting." said Strax "And who is this boy you have now?"

"Hello Strax." the Doctor replied. "This is--hang on, I don't even know your name!" Nicole was surprised. "My name is Nicole, and I'm not a boy, by the way.”, she added.

Strax eyed her doubtfully. “All right then. Whatever you say. Follow me, please. Madame Vastra isn’t feeling very well today.” He was clearly worried, even through his soldier-like behavior. The Doctor seemed surprised. Strax led them up a grand staircase, and Nicole suddenly felt underdressed as she marveled at the sparkling chandelier hanging from the vast ceiling and the polished marble statues next to the walls.

The Doctor whispered to Nicole as they walked, “Madame Vastra isn’t one to ‘not feel well’. Her ancient reptilian immune system is very strong, and should be able to immediately ward off almost any sickness.”

 _Reptilian_?

At the top of the stairs, Jenny met and greeted them again. She exchanged a brief nervous look with Strax, and Nicole and the Doctor shared a concerned one of their own. They strode into a room with many windows and plants. However, all the shades were pulled down, and the plants seemed a little weary as a result. In a comfy-looking rocking chair sat a woman with a purple and black dress and a veil covering her face.

"Ma’am,” Jenny knelt down to address the woman. “They’ve arrived. The Doctor and his companion are here.” Nicole was slightly offended at being called his companion. The only reason she was there was to get rid of whatever was in her head. She would leave right after that.

The woman, who Nicole assumed was Madame Vastra, turned towards the pair. “Hello Doctor. I’m so relieved to see you.” With that, she lifted her veil, revealing her face. Nicole’s eyes widened the slightest bit. Vastra’s face was green. Green, and scaly. Ohhh...that explains it. Reptilian. Her dark brown eyes seemed ancient, older than the Doctor, even.

"Actually, we came to see you about a problem of our own, but this is concerning.” explained The Doctor. “Are you all right? How exactly are you not feeling well?”

"Madame Vastra studied Nicole. She could almost feel her probing through her mind with her orangish brown eyes. “It’s difficult to explain. My symptoms so far are...unnerving. Not exactly a sickness. More like,” she looked meaningfully at Nicole as she spoke the last two words. “an invasion.”

Nicole gasped, The Doctor stared, Jenny stifled as small sob, and Strax sneezed. They all slowly turned and stared at him, and he said, “I apologize. I think I may have a slight allergy to emotional moments.”

Nicole ignored him and asked Madame Vastra, “How-How did you know that I had it too?” “My dear,” she answered with a small smile “Your eyes have changed color twice in the past two and a quarter minutes.”

The Doctor stared at Vastra’s now orange eyes. “But-but how? I thought it was strictly in that store, those Angels had developed that strategy of getting in one’s head." He was confused, but his quick brain and both hearts kicked in, and he soon jumped up. "Nicole, Vastra, with me."

He started to make his way down the stairs and Nicole and Vastra, confused, followed closely behind. The Doctor stopped abruptly one flight down. Both he and Vastra looked at something intently, and Nicole followed their gaze. One of the polished marble statues of some famous historical figure she marveled at on the way up. Statue. “Oh, no.”

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor suddenly looked excited. Nicole was disgusted. "Are you actually enjoying this? That your friend and I have evil aliens in our heads? Maybe I was wrong about coming with you."

"No, you don't understand. Of course I'm concerned, and I don't want either of you in danger. But do you have any idea how bored I've been in the past year? With Clara gone..." He left his sentence unfinished and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. She became more gentle. "Who's Clara? Your wife?"

"Ha! No. She was my friend. But that's the past. Right now, we have to figure on what's going on in that head of yours!", he lightly and playfully tapped her forehead with his knuckles. She drew back in surprise, only to quickly flick his forehead back. "Ow! I didn't do it that hard!"

"Well, it hurt!", she giggled. "Um, whenever you two children feel like your need for playtime is fulfilled, I believe we have an investigation to undergo.", Madame Vastra said patiently.

"Oh. Yes. Right." He continued scanning the statue. Soon, he pulled back the two ladies and begins talking to the statue. "I am going to assume you can understand me. We will be peaceful, and expect you to do the same. Soon, all three of us will turn our backs. I ask that you communicate not by invading our minds, but by writing. How fast can you write?" After a few seconds, the Doctor doubled over as if he'd been slapped in the stomach. He pulled out a wallet from the inside pocket of his jacket that held a paper with writing on it.

' _Faster than you can believe. No need to turn away. Takes too long. Just blink._ '

"Oh! Psychic paper communication, very nice. But let's try something less physical." Nicole blinked, and suddenly, a sheet of paper appeared, taped to the wall. It rustled as if something rushed past it, which Nicole was sure it did. On it was neat, blue cursive writing, saying, ' _We've gotten faster, Doctor. Smarter. We've adapted_.' He whistled, impressed, and looked toward the statue, which hadn't changed positions except for a blue pen in its hand.

"That's pretty dang fast. Now, why are you here? Again?" A flash. Then, ' _We are endangered_.'

"Endangered? Why come here? Why humans?"

' _They are plentiful.'_

"Have you seen Raxacoricofallapatorius? Over 2 trillion Slitheen!"

' _Slitheen are not sufficient for our use_.'

"So, you plan to create more 'Lonely Assassins'?"

' _Now you're getting it_ '

"How?"

' _Come on, you can figure this out. I can see you've dealt with this method before. I'll give you a hint_.' Suddenly, the a statue's handsome head morphed into one with a gas mask.

"Oh...Oh!," said the Doctor as realization dawned on him.

"What?" asked Nicole, as confused as the Doctor was excited.

"Nanogenes! Very, very strong ones! They must be incredible! Able to alter a whole human body so it turns into stone when seen, to greatly increase the speed at which they can move, that's fantastic!"

 _'I knew you would appreciate our method, if not our goal_.'

"Doctor, I feel...strange." Nicole whispered.

"Just, hang on for a little bit."

 _'Okay_ ' appeared on the paper. "What?," the Doctor scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

 _'I said_ -' "Okay." Nicole finished. The Doctor slowly turned towards Nicole, who now had a blue pen in her hand and looked distant, her eyes a brilliant green.

"Nicole, are you okay?"

And in response, she fainted.


End file.
